NMEA wiring to VHF

jcoyrochny

jcoyrochny

Member
Jul 22, 2009
91
Charleston, SC
Boat Info
Garmin GPSMAP 541, Garmin Fishfinder 400C, Garmin VHF 200 DSC Radio
Engines
7.4L, 454 CID, 330hp, Bravo II 1.50.1
:smt100I normally take out all of my electronics at the end of the season because of the extreme cold weather. I have a Garmin GPSMAP 172C and a Garmin VHF 100 radio that I always connect the NMEA cables to it, however, at the end of the season, I have to cut the wires again. Has anyone installed NMEA wires with any other kind of connector that can be just pulled apart at the end of the season. Those NMEA wires are also so small that I can not find any connectors that would fit it.
 
Will they work with NMEA 0183 wiring?
 
jcoyrochny said:
:smt100I normally take out all of my electronics at the end of the season because of the extreme cold weather. I have a Garmin GPSMAP 172C and a Garmin VHF 100 radio that I always connect the NMEA cables to it, however, at the end of the season, I have to cut the wires again. Has anyone installed NMEA wires with any other kind of connector that can be just pulled apart at the end of the season. Those NMEA wires are also so small that I can not find any connectors that would fit it.
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Sorry to hijack, but this brings up a good side question: Does very cold weather for months at a time have a long-term negative affect on boat electronics?
 
tdappleman said:
Bill - that looks like a good solution. Have you had any issues with corrosion or anything?
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Negative. I had to pull the radio last year for a repair and it made that real easy. I did the same with my NEMA conection to my SmartCraft.
 
Jim - I really like the plugs you have - certainly more appropriate for a marine environment. I like the price on the Radio Shack part though....
 
tdappleman said:
Jim - I really like the plugs you have - certainly more appropriate for a marine environment. I like the price on the Radio Shack part though....
Click to expand...

I agree and had I had know a specialty plug / socket combination had existed when I did my work I would have went in that direction. Following a CSR thread I hooked up my NEMA183 from my GPS to the VHF and to the SmartCraft. Being in the electrical field all my life I wanted to use a plug and socket and not just a butt splice or worse, wire nut, the connections. I knew where I could get something to do the job and that is just what I did. If I was doing it all over again, I would have opted for the better plug.
 
I remove everything that can be unplugged, i was afraid of the cold weather and theives. huh:huh:
 
jcoyrochny said:
Has anyone installed NMEA wires with any other kind of connector that can be just pulled apart at the end of the season.
Click to expand...

To answer the original question, yes, I have. When I installed my ICom 504, I wasn't sure what I'd use for NMEA connections, so I ran the small wires to a terminal block under the helm. I used two 10-gang terminal blocks, which gave me a place to hook up the speaker, hailer, power and other things connected to the radio. In fact, it made the radio installation very easy, as I pre-wired the terminal blocks in the comfort of my shop before installing the radio in the boat. It took only minutes to make the boat connections. Remember to make labels for the future.

As a temporary NMEA GPS feed, I spliced a connector from my handheld GPS. It worked so well that I still use it 2 years later. At the end of the day, I stow the GPS. It's still a temporary setup, but I'm not in a huge hurry to buy a new GPS and chartplotter for the river.

10499556.jpg
 
Thanks everyone, I went with the Radio Shack parts, they worked great.
 
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